What “Model” DITA Specializations Can Teach About Information Modelinc

The DITA Open Toolkit download site includes several demo specializations that few people discover and use. In this webinar, DITA maven, Don Day, will use these examples to highlight the role of information modelling that led to each specialization. Don will highlight the key points of how each specialization was created, or how semantics were introduced into the specialization, and a whole lot more.

7.
About This Presentation
There is value in having structured information.
How to get started? We’ll cover:
1. High level goals of an Information Model
2. Comparative overview of some sample designs
from the DITA community:
• What were they thinking, good or bad?
• How would I organize and structure my own content?
3. Summarize a design approach you can apply
for your content

8.
1. Goals of Information Models
• “An Information Model is a set of principles that define how
you intend to structure the information you develop.”
-- JoAnn Hackos, CIDM Newsletter, Feb. 2010
• It is a contract between the document and the outside world:
• For querying into the document (not just full text search)
• For processing the content in ways that support the business
• For publishing the content as its readers need or prefer

18.
Msgref plugin
Characteristic Assessment
Line of business Software company (but could be hardware codes)
Apparent business driver Single source for content that appears in both
product interfaces and in documentation (to lower
translation redundancy, for example)
Design methodology Represent the Java Resource Bundle structure
Use of typed data Deliberate, strongly fielded (see the msgID “title”)
Usability Abbreviated element names (probably necessary
due to wordiness of the domain, but an NLS issue);
Difficult to write without a fielded editing tool.
Utility Very good fit for the designed purpose (hands-off
reuse of message strings)
Compelling virtues Natural use of a “message” infotype and fields
Odious flaws Development costs for authors and tools interfaces
http://sourceforge.net/projects/dita-ot/files/Plug-in_message%20specialization/

21.
FAQ plugin
Characteristic Assessment
Line of business Support organizations; call centers
Apparent business driver Capture resolved issues as new best practice
responses for subsequent problem calls
Design methodology Assess the structure of conventional FAQs on the
Web, model the design as a DITA specialization
Use of typed data Rich information type (top-down) and categories;
some internal semantic terms as well
Usability Is functional, obvious; could be extended as needed
Utility The authoring problem it addresses is already
solved by knowledge base applications; better
suited as a “delivery aggregator”
Compelling virtues Simple, clear information model
Odious flaws None; could actually be used for “DITA on the Web”
https://github.com/dita-ot/ext-plugins/tree/master/faq

24.
Enote plugin
Characteristic Assessment
Line of business Mimics existing email tools; demonstrates using
content structures for header metadata
Apparent business driver Demo only; not in response to a business need
Design methodology Demonstrate “XML data islands” within standard
note structures.
Use of typed data Yes, for the header data islands
Usability Good to see how content can be used for data; to
some extent, this need is handled by DITA 1.2 +
Utility Not a real application
Compelling virtues Good teaching tool (like a car engine cut in half)
Odious flaws No longer a best practice for embedded data; use
the new <data> element
https://github.com/dita-ot/ext-plugins/tree/master/enote

31.
Here be Dragons!
• How will your chunks be used? Each new process represents a
new “application context” for the collection.
• What business rules need to be supported by the process? Are
they part of the application-level information model?
• Roll your own or involve a consultant?
• What are the costs of support and maintenance?
• What are the costs of training and getting up to speed?